Mercury I

Mercury I solar race team has accepted the challenge of designing, building, and racing a vehicle powered only by the sun’s radiant energy and will compete in the North American Solar Challenge this summer. Undergraduate Engineering Physics major Vikram Jhaveri became interested in the race and approached Associate Professor of Physics Daniel Holland, who previously worked with NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. They enlisted help from Assistant Professor David Thomas Marx, whose interests include novel energy conversion devices, such as solar cells. This collaboration has grown into a multidisciplinary team of more than 25 students, faculty, and alumni from four departments who volunteer time and energy to advance their skills and the promise of renewable energy.

Renamed the Mercury I in honor of America's first spacecraft and the planet nearest the sun, the single-seat, three-wheeled ISU car will race in the 2005 challenge July 17-27. The route will take at least 40 cars along 2,500 miles from US 71 and the Canadian Highway 1 via Dallas; Tulsa, OK; Topeka, KS; Omaha, NB; Sioux Falls, SD; Fargo, ND; Winnipeg; Brandon, Manitoba; Regina, Saskatchewan; and Medicine Hat, Alberta.

Although solar car production is very expensive and time consuming, the ISU team was able to cut both time and money by purchasing a solar car from the University of Minnesota. The vehicle finished in sixth place in the 2001 North American Solar Challenge that followed Old US 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles. The mechanics of the original car, including the chassis, brakes, and solar panels, will be kept. But the ISU team has just five months to rebuild the entire electrical system. So far, ISU has secured close to $20,000 of the $50,000 needed and are actively seeking donors to enable them to finish the car and enter the race. Once finished, about 1,000 solar cells on the car's surface will produce enough energy to power the 500-pound car on the highway at speeds of 65 mph and more.